VIEWPOINT Stating the case for multipurpose
plumbing/fire sprinkler systems BY JOHN MESENBRINK,EDITOR
R
esidential fires kill nearly 2,500 people each year. In 2009, California home fires killed 44 people and injured 430 including
102 firefighters as reported to the California Office of the State Fire Marshal. According to information provided by Uponor (
www.uponor-usa.com), a leading supplier of plumbing, fire safety and radiant heating and cooling systems for the residential and commercial building markets in the United States, in response to growing concerns about home-fire fatalities and irrefutable fire-loss data, states such as California and Pennsylvania have adopted national building codes that require fire sprinklers in all newly constructed homes. “We know that fire sprinklers save lives, reduce
injuries and decrease property damage,” explained California Acting State Fire Marshal Tonya Hoover, who said this fact is borne out by decades of studies across the nation. In fact, incorporating residential fire sprinklers
162
in the 2010 California Residential Building Code is not new, but rather, formalizes a process already underway, according to National Fire Sprinkler Association (NFSA) Western regional manager Bruce Lecair. “In reality, more than one- third of California already has home sprinklers, so
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Zoeller ..................................40
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this new code will just accelerate this trend,” said Lecair, referring to the 160 municipalities that have individual fire-sprinkler ordinances in place. While the need for residential fire sprinklers is
clear and the mandate in place for Californians, builders and home buyers still have a choice in the type of system they select for their homes. “The goal of any sprinkler system is to suppress
the fire long enough for first responders to arrive, but there are significant differences in fire sprinkler design, performance and maintenance costs,” said Jayson Drake, senior product manager, Plumbing and Fire Safety, for Uponor North America. “Some builders prefer multipurpose fire sprinklers because of their affordability and ease of installation.” A multipurpose system combines the cold-
water plumbing and the fire sprinkler system into one. The alternative requires three separate sets of pipes — two for the home’s hot- and cold- water plumbing and a third for the standalone fire sprinkler system. Since just two sets of pipes are required,
multipurpose systems install up to 65 percent faster and can reduce the cost by as much as 15 percent, compared with traditional systems, explained Drake. ;
phcmay 2011
www.phcnews.com
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